Consultants have concluded that cycle lanes protected by a buffer of car parking is feasible for the streets between Leeson Street and Mount Street via Fitzwilliam Street.

If proceeded with, the route — dubbed the Fitzwilliam Cycle Route — is estimate to cost between €790,000 and €1.1 million. The consultant’s report was published ahead of the Dublin City Council transport committee meeting next Wednesday.

The route will still need to get council approval, a public consultation process and funding approval from the National Transport Authority. So, it’s unclear at this stage when it could be built.

It would run between the junction of Fitzwilliam Place and Leeson Street and the junction of Merrion Square East, Merrion Square North and Mount Street.

Following a request from Cllr Paddy Smyth (FG) consultants AECOM were commissioned by the National Transport Authority to undertake a feasibility and options assessment study.

The consultants concluded that 2 metre widewith-flow cycle lanes with a door-zone buffer was the best option. Parking would act as a physical buffer between the cycle lanes and the general traffic lanes. Two-way cycle lanes or wider cycle lanes without door zone buffers were seen as less sutable for the route in question.

The current streets includes cycling mixed with traffic for the most part and a small section of cycle lanes outside car parking.

The consultants report concluded: “The results of the Option Assessment and Feasibility Study propose a Standard Cycle Lane with marked Buffer (inside parking) as the preferred option.
This option meets the project objectives and …provides the optimal balance of provision between the various competing users along the route. The option also provides an equitable facility suitable for the predicted user groups.
”

It adds: “It is recommended that further design and analysis proposed in the report is carried out to complete the option’s design in the detailed design phase.”

The following example and draft outline only images were included in the report:

We don’t know any details of this scheme yet but who wants to guess which councillors will end up voting against it? Niall Ring, Mannix Flynn, Carr obviously…anyone else?

I’m not a big fan of being placed on the inside of left turning cars like that. That road is already pretty low stress to cycle along because it is so wide. If they are going to spend 1.1 million euro I think there are better places to do it.

Seems like it’ll be the best designed on-road section of cycle lane in the city.

Left-turning conflicts won’t be much of an issue because the sight lines are good – the traffic-island buffers should ensure that drivers will see cyclists.

There are many places more deserving of high quality cycle lanes, but I applaud any implementation of good cycle lanes wherever they are in the city. Progress has been so disappointingly slow in Dublin, the focus on our inability to get the big schemes like the Liffey cycle route done also masks the fact that we almost never see small schemes either. E.g. why can’t we get contraflows on the Capel street, Clarendon street, or Stephen street etc. etc…

I don’t agree that this is a “low stress” street. In the wintertime after dark, it is “high stress”. There are a lot of cars and vans, as it feeds some major routes in and out of the city (Blackrock, Stillorgan, Sandyford, SCR). I am delighted to see the lane inside the cars. I would regard this street as particularly hostile.

I hope the segregation includes a kerb, as mentioned above. This will help to ensure cars park in the right place, and prevent bikes from clashing with parked cars.

This will be also help to develop a cycle network, by linking three major radial routes and the Grand Canal Cycleway. This will be key to building confidence for new cyclists.

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